Academic All-America

Currently, College Sports Communicators is responsible for the annual selection of Academic All-Americans in men's soccer, women's soccer, football, volleyball, men's basketball, women's basketball, men's swimming & diving, women's swimming & diving, men's tennis, women's tennis, baseball, softball and men's and women's track and field/cross country. Many other sports are eligible through the [https://collegesportscommunicators.com/sports/2016/9/22/AAA_AtLarge.aspx At-Large] program.{{Cite web |title=About the Academic All-America® Program |url=https://academicallamerica.com/sports/2017/11/27/About.aspx |access-date=2023-08-03 |website=academicallamerica.com |language=en}}

College Sports Communicators has registered a trademark for the name, "Academic All-America" which it uses for its student-athlete recognition program. The Academic All-America program administered by College Sports Communicators is not related to such programs administered or sponsored by coaches' organizations. As a result, cease and desist orders have been granted to protect the trademark at times. Various sports that have similar programs have had to use names such as All-Academic to recognize scholar athletes.{{cite web|url=http://www.cosida.com/news/2008/9/16/0916080516_5746.aspx |title=Protecting the Trademark of ESPN the Magazine Academic All-America Program |access-date=March 12, 2010 |date=September 16, 2008 |publisher=College Sports Information Directors of America |author=Arenberg, John |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081019170019/http://www.cosida.com/news/2008/9/16/0916080516_5746.aspx |archive-date=October 19, 2008 }}

Prior to the relationship with Google Cloud and Capital One, the Academic All-American Award has had other named corporate sponsors such as ESPN, Verizon and Verizon's corporate predecessor GTE who were sponsors from 1985 until the mid-2000s.{{cite web|url=http://www.theacc.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/050803aab.html|title=Gminski Among 25 Finalists for Academic Hall of Fame: Duke Great Was One of 10 Players to Have Jersey Retired|access-date=April 26, 2010|date=May 8, 2003|publisher=CBS Interactive|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121008045452/http://www.theacc.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/050803aab.html|archive-date=October 8, 2012|url-status=dead|df=mdy-all}} In 1981, the National Collegiate Athletic Association sponsored the program.{{cite web|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=qN4mAAAAIBAJ&pg=3315,3539325&dq=academic-all-america+sponsor+college+sports+information+directors&hl=en|title=Stanford back leads Academic All-Americans|access-date=February 6, 2011|date=December 22, 1981|work=Baltimore Afro-American}} From 1985 until the 1999–2000 academic year the honorees were called GTE All-Americans, but during the 2000–01 academic year they became known as Verizon All-Americans when Verizon acquired GTE.{{cite web|url=http://www.theacc.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/031301aae.html|title=Shane Battier Named Verizon Academic All-America of the Year: Battier became the fourth Duke player to be named Academic All-America two or more times.|access-date=April 25, 2010|date=March 13, 2001|publisher=CBS Interactive|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120307215617/http://www.theacc.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/031301aae.html|archive-date=March 7, 2012|url-status=dead|df=mdy-all}}{{cite web|url=http://www.theacc.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/022400aab.html|title=UVa's Ducharme Selected To Academic All-District Team: Men's basketball center/forward is third on the team in blocked shots this season.|access-date=April 25, 2010|date=February 24, 2000|publisher=CBS Interactive|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121008045549/http://www.theacc.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/022400aab.html|archive-date=October 8, 2012|url-status=dead|df=mdy-all}} Verizon continued to be the named sponsor through the 2003–04 academic year when they did not renew their rights.{{cite web|url=http://collegeswimming.com/news/2004/jun/17/cosida-names-25-swimmers-to-all-american-teams/|title=CoSIDA Names 25 Swimmers to All-American Teams|access-date=April 26, 2010|date=June 17, 2004|publisher=CollegeSwimming.com}} ESPN the Magazine became the sponsor during the 2004–05 academic year and remained sponsor until September 2010.{{cite web|url=http://www.theacc.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/030205aak.html|title=Chris Paul Is Named Academic All-American: First Deacon basketball player to earn Academic All-American since 1996|access-date=April 26, 2010|date=March 2, 2005|publisher=CBS Interactive|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121008045557/http://www.theacc.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/030205aak.html|archive-date=October 8, 2012|url-status=dead|df=mdy-all}}{{cite web |url=http://cosida.com/Awards/allamerica.aspx |title=2010-11 Capital One Academic All-America and Academic All-America® Hall of Fame Nomination & Voting Process |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071018091140/http://cosida.com/Awards/allamerica.aspx |archive-date=October 18, 2007 |url-status=dead |publisher=College Sports Information Directors of America |access-date=February 6, 2011 |df=mdy-all }} Fall 2010 teams, continued to bear the ESPN sponsorship name.{{cite web |url=http://cosida.com/news.aspx?id=2980 |title=Alabama quarterback Greg McElroy, Minnesota Duluth running back Isaac Odim lead ESPN Academic All-America® Football Teams |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110929215731/http://www.cosida.com/news.aspx?id=2980 |date=November 23, 2010 |archive-date=September 29, 2011 |publisher=College Sports Information Directors of America |url-status=dead |df=mdy-all |access-date=February 6, 2011 }} Capital one took over the sponsorship in January 2011.{{cite web |date=January 31, 2011 |title=Capital One partners with CoSIDA to sponsor the Academic All-America® program |url=http://cosida.com/news.aspx?id=3067 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110708193403/http://cosida.com/news.aspx?id=3067 |archive-date=July 8, 2011 |access-date=February 6, 2011 |publisher=College Sports Information Directors of America |df=mdy-all}}

Initially, team selections were composed of both a University Division, made up of Division I participants, and a College Division, made up of Division II, Division III, NAIA, and 2-year colleges. First, second and third team selections are made for both divisions in most Academic All-America programs. However, the football programs only select a first and second team. The football University Division includes both Football Bowl Subdivision and Football Championship Subdivision.{{cite web |title=Academic All-America |url=http://www.cosida.com/Awards/allamerica.aspx |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100205102957/http://cosida.com/Awards/allamerica.aspx |archive-date=February 5, 2010 |access-date=February 12, 2010 |publisher=College Sports Information Directors of America |df=mdy-all}} In 2011, the program was expanded to incorporate four sets of teams: Division I, Division II, Division III and a College Division that included all U.S. four-year institutions outside the NCAA, two-year colleges and Canadian schools.{{cite web|url=https://www.ncaa.com/news/ncaa/article/2011-11-01/new-academic-all-america-program|title=New Academic All-America program: For the first time CoSIDA will announce teams in all divisions|access-date=December 8, 2011|date=November 2, 2011|publisher=National Collegiate Athletic Association|author=Brown, Gary|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130605055237/http://www.ncaa.com/news/ncaa/article/2011-11-01/new-academic-all-america-program|archive-date=June 5, 2013|url-status=dead|df=mdy-all}} After the 2018 award cycle, the NAIA was spun off from the College Division, with the College Division now consisting of two-year schools, plus four-year schools in the U.S. and Canada that are not members of the NCAA or NAIA.{{cite press release |url=https://academicallamerica.com/news/2018/5/22/general-new-google-cloud-academic-all-america-division-for-the-naia-being-added-for-2018-19-academic-year.aspx |title=New Google Cloud Academic All-America® Division for the NAIA Being Added For 2018-19 Academic Year |publisher=College Sports Information Directors of America |date=May 22, 2018 |access-date=March 12, 2019}}

Nominations must be made on the College Sports Communicators website by a current dues-paying member with a CSC-issued user name and password for the academic year at issue. Formerly, nominations were made by pen and ink and then with typewritten nominations.{{cite web|url=http://www.cosida.com/documents/2008/10/8/08acad_aa.pdf|title=Maximizing Your Academic All-America Nominations|date=June 11, 2008|access-date=March 13, 2010|publisher=College Sports Information Directors of America|author=Seavey, Jim}} The CSC members nominate student-athletes only from the academic institution that they are affiliated with. The nominees must be a starter or important reserve with at least a 3.50 cumulative grade point average (on a 4.0 scale) at his/her current institution. Nominees must have participated in at least 50 percent of the team's games at the position listed on the nomination form (where applicable). In baseball and softball, pitchers must have at least 10.0 innings pitched. Nominees are ineligible until the completion of one full calendar year at his/her current institution and attainment of sophomore athletic eligibility. Transfers, graduate students and two-year college graduates must have completed one full calendar year at the nominating institution to be eligible. Graduate school nominees must have a cumulative GPA of 3.50 or better both as an undergraduate and in graduate school. Except for at-large program, there are no limits in the number of athletes an institution may nominate. In the at-large program, nominations are limited to three per school per gender (a total of five men's at-large candidates and five women's at-large candidates). If an institution participates in both the college and the university divisions, it may nominate a total of five men and five women between the two divisions.

In each program, All-District selections are elected by the CSC membership with the resulting first-team All-District selections advancing to the national ballot for Academic All-America team selections. The national ballot is cast by all College Sports Communicators members plus the Academic All-America Committee and the CSC Board of Directors. Each sport program also recognizes a single athlete for both NCAA Division I, II, II and NAIA who are referred to as Academic All-America Team Member of the Year.

In addition, there is an annual selection by the College Sports Communicators and its Academic All-America sponsor of the individual athlete selected as the most outstanding Academic All-America of the approximately 2000 annual selections. Since the start of the 2018–19 school year, one winner has been chosen for each of four divisions: Division I, Division II, Division III and NAIA. From 2012 to 2018, the non-NCAA division was known as the College Division, and included NAIA members, two-year institutions, U.S. four-year schools that were not NCAA or NAIA members, and Canadian schools. Between 1996 and 2011 one winner each was chosen from both the College and University Divisions' annual selections. Between 1988 and 1995 one winner was chosen per year.{{cite web|url=http://cosida.com/media/documents/2010/7/All_Time_AAAmericas_of_the_Year.pdf|title=ESPN The Magazine Annual Academic All-America® Of The Year Recipients|access-date=March 22, 2011|publisher=College Sports Information Directors of America}}

:See: List of Academic All-America Team Members of the Year

During the 1987–88 academic year, College Sports Communicators began selecting one student as the most outstanding team member of the year. In 1996, CSC began selecting two outstanding team members yearly, one each from the college division and the university division. In 2011–12, when the program was expanded to include four sets of teams (Division I, Division II, Division III and a College Division), four winners were chosen, one from each division. Starting in 2018–19, a dedicated NAIA team was added.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology has had the most Academic All-America selections.{{cite web|url=https://academicallamerica.com/documents/2017/4/11//AAA_School_by_School_Ranked_by_Most.pdf?id=2224|title=Academic All American by Rank|accessdate=March 18, 2024|date=February 13, 2024|publisher=College Sports Communicators}}{{cite web|url=https://academicallamerica.com/documents/2023/7/25//AAA_Who_has_the_most.pdf?id=4429|title=Academic All-America®, selected by College Sports Communicators|accessdate=March 18, 2024|date=January 31, 2024|publisher=College Sports Communicators}}

• All-America
• Walter Byers Award
• Elite 90 Award

{{reflist|colwidth=30em}}

• [https://academicallamerica.com/sports/2017/11/28/AAAByTheNumbers.aspx All-Sport archive 2002–present]
• [https://academicallamerica.com/documents/2017/4/11//AAA_AllTime_Individual_by_school.pdf?id=2217 CSC Academic All-America All-Time List] (.pdf)
• [https://academicallamerica.com/documents/2023/7/25//AAA_Who_has_the_most.pdf?id=4429 CSC Academic All-America performers: School overall totals and by Division/listings by sport/misc. categories] (.pdf)

{{Academic All-America}}

Category:College sports in the United States

Category:College sports trophies and awards in the United States

Aca

Category:Awards established in 1952